Rethinking Commodification: A Cautionary View on Propertizing Intangible Heritage

How should society ensure the sustainability of intangible cultural heritage? Are property rights the answer? Proponents of propertization argue that exclusive rights of control are needed to fend off predatory outsiders who would appropriate indigenous heritage and commodify it. Rampant commodification can obliterate authenticity and cause lasting harm to the source community. Proponents claim that propertizing heritage would protect traditional culture and allow source communities to steward its uses along sustainable paths. This Article provides a cautionary perspective. Claims that commodification tarnishes cultural heritage often rest on an idealized vision of traditional culture outside the realm of commerce. Yet, commerce often sustains, and is interwoven with, communal culture. In many cases, commerce is also constitutive of culture: It lies at the origin of many cherished traditions. Moreover, both culture and community and culture are themselves problematic constructs. Conceptualizing cultural heritage can reify arbitrary notions of authenticity that inhibit innovation. Community stewards can themselves play a repressive role, stifling cultural dissent and enforcing outdated orthodoxies. Commodification can counteract such harmful tendencies. Drawing on case studies from Cuba, Hawaii, and elsewhere, this Article elucidates the complex role that commodification plays vis-à-vis cultural heritage, both positive and negative. This more nuanced account counsels against “cultural propertization,” at least in its stronger forms. Instead, the Article, advocates alternative strategies to perpetuate cultural heritage and channel it in positive directions.